Chapter 53

Faced with this somewhat comical scene, Wen Jing flew into a rage; in a flash, only one thought flashed through his mind—

This mushroom is stealing her food?!

Chapter 53

Wen Jing has been observing the giant trees for nearly three months.

She had stolen the mutated fruit from the scorpion, the Emerald Crystal Rice Grain from the ants, and the eggs from the red and white birds... but one day, someone else stole them from her.

And this thief was a mushroom.

Wen Jing hadn't even eaten it yet, and it was already trying to steal her food?

"Laugh!"

A Wind Blade instantly condensed and cleaved the mushroom growing on the snake's head, cutting it off at the root.

In an instant, another cloud of red spores erupted, but Wen Jing was prepared and created distance, even using Gravity Silk to pull the remaining snake heads toward him.

I'm planning to eat some mushrooms after I finish the snake head to make a balanced meal.

Unexpectedly, the snake's head, which had been motionless and appeared to be completely dead from a physiological and energy perspective, suddenly sprang up and opened its mouth wide.

A foul stench swept in, and as the snake bit and gnawed, it also spewed out a cloud of purple poisonous mist.

Wen Jing was startled and quickly retreated.

This cloud of poisonous mist also contained venom, which poured down from the snake's mouth like rain. Even though she wasn't directly facing the snake's mouth, a few drops still landed on the Energy Shield she had just erected.

"Sizzle..."

Instantly, the shield emitted a corrosive sound as it succumbed to the venom, melting wherever it touched.

Wen Jing's forefoot accidentally got a little bit of the contaminant on it, and a burning pain shot through his exoskeleton; he had suffered a minor injury.

Although they had previously evolved Snake Venom Resistance, that resistance was only effective against the venom in the black snake's internal organs and muscles, and was far weaker than the venom specifically designed to attack from the snake's mouth.

It's important to know that some venomous snakes can even kill themselves with their venom, which is why she waited until the very end to eat the snake's head.

After the attack, the black snake's head fell to the ground again, seemingly finally coming to a complete stop.

Was this a residual nerve reaction caused by her pulling, or the black snake's final blow?

If it were an ordinary snake, Wen Jing would definitely think it was a neurological reaction, but with Ancient Wilderness snake... it's really hard to say. After all, there's the precedent of the Vine Lizard, which was originally one of the black snake's prey.

After carefully observing and confirming for a moment, she slowly approached from behind the snake's head.

Without the support of her torso, even if another attack were to occur, she could easily dodge it from this angle.

"Click..."

The insect bit the snake's head once, then two, then three times...

The snake's head showed no further reaction, indicating that the previous strike was indeed the final blow.

Wen Jing breathed a sigh of relief, but she was also a little scared. Fortunately, she used tactics against the black snake, which resulted in a fatal blow. If she had faced it head-on, she didn't know how many Skill Points she would have needed to evolve to resist the snake's venom attack.

Wen Jing acted swiftly, emptying most of the black snake's skull in an instant.

While consuming two poison gland organs, her health points briefly decreased. Just as she hesitated about whether to continue evolving, the decrease in health points stopped.

At the same time, a prompt appeared on the panel.

[Gained Trait: Potent Poison Resistance I]

That's more like it! The lizard was given a very useful Mimicry skill, so it's a bit unreasonable that such a big boss-level creature as the black snake only has its Abnormal Status Immunity level 2.

Wen Jing felt that his current resistance to poison was not much different from that of the creatures native to this place.

A moment later, as she crawled out of the empty snake-bone eye socket, she encountered mycelium that covered the surrounding area like a curtain.

This is the red mushroom she had previously cut off. It had just been chopped down to just a few roots, and in a short time, those remaining roots had spread out over most of the snake's head and were extending inwards.

Scanning the area where he had dragged the snake's head, he saw several faint red patches appearing in the mist not far away.

It's incredibly resilient and persistent; thankfully, she ate it fast enough!

Thinking of this, Wen Jing couldn't help but feel a little resentful. This red mushroom also wanted to eat the black snake, but why was the snake's head just spraying venom at her?

Thinking this, the little insect used its forelegs to hook a wisp of mycelium towards its mouth.

Now that she had gained a new level of Potent Poison Resistance, she felt qualified to taste the saltiness of the Crimson Mushroom.

Of course, she only tasted a tiny bit...

Fresh! Wonderful! Amazing!!

Instantly, Wen Jing filled with tears, overwhelmed by a tremendous sense of happiness, her mind churning with every word that could describe how delicious it was.

This was the most delicious thing she had ever eaten in the Ancient Wilderness!

No, this was the most delicious thing she had ever eaten in her life!

No, no, no... This is the most delicious thing she has ever eaten in both of her lives!

She's going to eat all the red umbrellas here!

The little insect stood upright, as if hearing beautiful music. To this music, she pulled up the mycelium, grabbed it with her four "hands," and swung it around like a ribbon in the hands of a gymnast, performing a 360-degree inverted spin.

Spinning and leaping, Wen Jing finished eating the mycelium on the snake bone and then flew to the nearest crimson mushroom.

The previously highly poisonous spores had become mere decorative embellishments, no longer affecting her. She devoured almost every single red mushroom visible to the naked eye in the entire giant tree area.

After finishing all the crimson mushrooms in the lower part of the giant tree, Wen Jing still felt unsatisfied and continued upwards.

When you see Fluorescent Flower Field, eat them; when you see various tree trunks and insects, eat them; when you see red and white birds, eat them; and when you see ants and tree holes, eat them even more!

Gnawing her way from the tree hole into the depths of the ant nest, Wen Jing once again found the red fleshy lump that had once caused her to stumble.

"Give me everything, give me everything..."

"Smack!"

Faced with the ant queen's mind control once again, Wen Jing felt as if a breeze had passed by, having no effect on her whatsoever. She sneered and pounced on her to bite her.

"Now it's your turn to contribute!"

Unable to control her mind, the mere queen ant and her ant guards were no match for her.

After finishing off the queen ant, Wen Jing moved through the ant nest as if it were his own territory, continuing to eat the Emerald Crystal Rice Grain stored in the nearby ant warehouse. He then went to the Emerald Crystal Mine and dug deeper into the emerald area to find more emeralds.

While digging out the tree core, she suddenly paused and started gnawing instead of digging.

That's right! She originally planned to eat the giant tree anyway, so why doesn't she just eat it too!

Wen Jing devoured everything in sight, leaving no trace of matter in his wake, completely immersed in his own art and unable to extricate himself.

Finally, she gnawed her way to the deepest, most core part of the tree trunk.

There, she saw another oracle bone script character for "wood".

Wen Jing immediately unleashed a smooth and skillful combo of devouring attacks.

After swallowing yet another oracle bone script, she turned around and realized that she was now invincible. Her next step was to conquer the Ancient Wilderness and then devour the entire Ancient Wilderness!

Watching Wen Jing's life progress by leaps and bounds, as if it had suddenly transformed from a normal novel into an outline heading straight for its conclusion, she suddenly remembered... Right, how many Skill Points did she gain after absorbing the [Wood] character this time?

There must be at least a few hundred, right?

panel?

As Wen Jing instinctively opened the control panel, he suddenly shuddered.

All the previous experiences, which couldn't withstand scrutiny, seemed to shatter like a bubble.

At the base of the giant tree shrouded in poisonous mist, near the snake's skull covered in red mushrooms, one of the crimson mushrooms swayed slightly.

Two shakes, three shakes... a slight tremor quickly escalated into a violent one.

The insects tore through the mycelium and crawled out of the mycelial layer.

Through the surrounding red spores, Wen Jing's compound eyes saw a huge red umbrella growing on his back.

... If she hadn't regained consciousness in time, would she have turned into cordyceps?

No, the cordyceps has a Symbiosis relationship, and the reason her body is currently depleted of energy is because the mycelium has somehow penetrated through the gaps in her exoskeleton and entered her body, drawing energy from her.

Wen Jing realized that perhaps the Crimson Mushroom was the true overlord of the lower level of the Giant Tree.

Not only did he want to eat her spoils, he wanted to eat her too!

Damn it, in her past life she clearly saw so many videos of mushrooms producing little people, how come she didn't realize this while in her insect form?

They've gotten too big for their britches!

Her newly acquired Potent Poison Resistance and her previous encounters led her to believe that this mushroom was only poisonous; she never imagined that its stronger effect was that it could induce hallucinations after consumption.

Moreover, this illusion is different from the brainwashing-like mind control of the queen ant. If the day-night cycle happens again this time, she is very likely to take this red umbrella to a new place to continue growing—if she can survive until then without being drained.

No, she can't keep falling into the same traps!

Unable to unleash the shield- Energy-Shaping Weapon due to insufficient energy, Wen Jing struggled to peel away the mycelium on his body while simultaneously communicating with the panel in his consciousness:

"Evolution! The ability to Digestion and break down illusions... no."

Halfway through his thought, Wen Jing suddenly stopped.

She recalled the time she had been trapped in a hallucination before; it was because the consciousness panel was involved, and the hallucination seemed unable to be simulated, which woke her up.

Last time she faced the queen ant in the ant nest, she was also unable to actively use the panel to evolve.

Although the two events led to different outcomes, they both revealed the same underlying principle: the control panel was only bound to her conscious and free will.

Given that, why doesn't she simply evolve an ability that maximizes its use?

Let the control panel become her 'spiritual anchor'!

Perhaps she can obtain an ability with a very high potential, without spending many Skill Points.

After a moment's thought, Wen Jing attempted to propose a direction for the panel's evolution.